Originally Posted by
Giscoicus
No TL;DR I work hard to type
What I see over and over in threads like this is "Oh the game is 9 years old its doing well for a 9 year old game decline is natural etc." and they're right, decline is natural, and WoW is still doing well. However, according to the graph and sub numbers released, this is not just regular decline. There are clear drops in sub numbers, and that is not just natural.
Wrath was, thus far, the peak in subs. While some players will always leave and some will join, the massive sub loss we have seen in the past few years is incredible, and more than just a natural decline. There is something that changed, something that has caused so many players to leave. What that is, or rather what the multiple somethings are, nobody can say for sure, but to act like there is not a major force behind the sub loss is ridiculous, equal to putting your hands over your ears, shutting your eyes and making loud sounds. This is more than just a natural decline. Whatever changes there were need to be addressed, or at least pinpointed, so that they are not made again.
First, there are changes in the gaming community. Since the end of Wrath, more and more MMOs have been released. WoW was always the big MMO in the market, and when stuff like GW2 and Rift came up, a lot of players saw the problems they had with WoW addressed, or just a new thing to try, and left. Well those MMOs went under fast, and while some players came back to WoW, others would have just stopped with MMOs. These games do still have a playerbase, and that means that those players, who enjoy MMOs, are no longer with WoW. Another change in the gaming community is just the playerbase. The current community are not those who would keep putting in a quarter to spend another couple minutes with Mrs. Pac-Man, they are the kids who scream and swear if they cannot take mid lane in League of Legends, or adults who play very casually, and no offense to some, poorly, because they just wanted to see what the heck it was their child was so into or saw a pop-up for Bubble Blaster on Facebook. Neither of these play styles meshes well with an MMO, and while WoW has tried to bend to meet them, more than half way, the MMO genre just doesnt match the current majority, and every change WoW makes to be more accepting of these people is a step away from how the MMO audience likes their game, so now WoW is some hybrid that is only appealing to part of each play style. Lastly, WoW was so successful because of the Warcraft fanbase, along with other MMO fans. Like how Elder Scrolls hopes to do, the long time fans flocked to the game, along with those from other MMOs. If Riot was to make a MMO with the minor lore they have, they would get a massive number of players because of their existing fanbase. Warcraft however, is a fairly dated RTS, a style of game somewhat on decline, thus very few players who are not already in WoW have no interest in joining WoW. Also there is a stigma about WoW, from stuff like South Park, that makes potential players much more weary of starting. These external changes have made WoW stop growing, and begin shrinking, in addition to a natural decline from people just no longer experiencing the game the way they once did. WoW has more or less stopped gaining many new players. I'll be honest, if I was some teenager and saw the Mists of Pandaria commercial, I would have been turned off by the Panda thing, then the fact that WoW has always been seen as the hive of all nerds and basement dwellers, I would do anything but want to buy it. Blizzard just doesnt have the appeal to the current audiences they once did, for a variety of reasons, and that means we just arent gaining subs.
In the game itself however, is where the source of most of the sub loss would be found. Since the day the servers went live, there have always been complaints, and people who quit because of something they dont like. I'm sure anybody who has been to the forums, here or heck even trade chat in the past 10 years could rattle off the common complaints.
-caters to casuals
-caters to hardcore
-stuff is easy
-stuff is hard
-pvp is unbalanced
-community sucks
and from each of these spout a couple other complaints, like WPvP is unbalanced for PvE gear, or players upset that LFR doesnt drop heirlooms. But these complains have always existed since the start, because nothing will please everybody. The issue is, somewhere a long the way, Blizzard made changes that threw the balance off too much, and got many players to leave. Somewhere along the line, there were changes that made so many players feel so greatly about one of the overreaching issues that they quit. Blizzard knows it, the playerbase knows it, everybody realizes that some changes just managed to make a lot leave. A common one that people mention were the Cataclysm heroics at launch. Some people have argued that they were fine and Blizzard nerfing them was just giving in to casuals, and there were some who quit because they were nerfed There were also players who found them to be far too hard, Blizzard listening to hardcore players, and quit because they were difficult. Blizzard quite clearly managed to miss the mark, and instead of finding the right difficulty to keep both audiences engaged and playing, went too far in one direction, then jumped in the opposite one. Players more often than not do not resub, while there are those who do there are many more who will not.
Blizzard will not talk about these issues. They will occasionaly have, or had, Ghostcrawler or somebody say "we like how it is," or "we are looking at some changes in the future". I understand fully how stressful it is for Blizzard employees to have to talk to people, since most of us will, as Ghostcrawler pointed out, have a bias we refuse to see past. But releasing vague statements on major complaints is not helping either side, especially those who have the complaint in the first place. I am disappointed to see the ridiculousness of the Q&A at Blizzcon, where half the time people were asking offtopic questions while the devs were actually willing to answer. Is there a fix for everything? No. Is everything that has a complaint broken or in need of change? Probably not. But the fact that these changes end up with players leaving, and are rarely discussed in depth is just not helping the game.
Lastly, I do think Blizzard has become somewhat detached. While it is partially the playerbase, when was the last time Blizzard added in those little things that everybody loved? Like that ogre Lard who doesnt turn when you talk to him. I mean, as annoying as it is, the community hasnt had a good joke since BOOOOONNNNNEEEEESTTTTOOORRRMMMMM, aside from maybe the BWD elevator boss.
I think it would be beneficial for the developers to talk more to the playerbase. Give opposing views to peoples complaints. Currently they are ignoring many heated issues, instead trying to distract players with other stuff. Why is it a developer cannot tell the people who are complaining about a lack of worgen paladins Blizzards view on it, and actually have a discussion? The forums are a terrible location for any sort of real conversation, filled with more up/down abuse that Reddit (IE I disagree, so I report and downvote vs I disagree, but he isnt just being obnoxious/insulting/trolling, so I wont vote at all) as well as the barrage of posts are hard to reply to. I think it would be beneficial for the developers to have more Q&A with small groups of players to actually talk about topics, not just give a quick response and dismissal. Whatever they are doing isn't working, and whatever changes they are making are major enough to push away players. Maybe it is just the last straw for some, like those on small servers not being merged right away, but Blizzard is just not listening to the playerbase, nor is the playerbase listening to eachother. Buzzwords fill every forum you can find, along with offtopic bull, and rarely will a blue post. I dont expect every "GIVE GNOME DRUIDS" thread to get a response, but I do think the devs need to talk to players more, instead of making quick changes to shut people up and hoping it wasnt too big to scare off subs.
There is natural decline, but this is not natural decline. There are multiple reasons people are leaving, and ignoring them is not a solution.